Disclaimer: I know I forgot this on the first chapter so here it is. I don't own The Suite Life Series, Disney does. Now that that's out of the way let's get on with the story.

WARNING: If your a Maya Bennett fan you might end up not liking this chapter. You've been warned!

Chapter 2: Remembering

Zack lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. It had been about two hours since he had gone to bed, he had listened to the sounds around him as he tried to force himself to go to sleep. He could hear the late night sounds of the city, as well as everything that went on in the main room of the suite. He knew that his mother had gone to bed about an hour after he had. No matter how hard he tried though sleep just would not overtake him and he knew why. When he had talked to Maddie in the parking garage and she had asked him about his racing it had drugged all the memories of his break up with Maya on the boat and then the letter back up and to the forefront of his mind. About four days after his return to the Tipton he had received a letter from Maya's family that included a newspaper article and an invitation to one of the worst days of his life.

Flashback

Zack walked into his family's suite around five o'clock, looking around he saw two notes laying on the kitchen table. He walked over to the table and picked up the first, it was from Cody and read,

Hey bro, went to the store for mom be back in about an hour, Cody.

The second was from his mother, picking it up he read it also,

Hey sweetie, went to rehearsal, not sure what time it'll be done, theres $20 on the fridge for you and your brother to order take-out. You also got a letter it's you should see it it's laying under this note, Love Mom.

He looked at the table and saw the letter. Picking it up he was surprised to feel that it had a little weight to it. Looking at the address he froze, why would Maya's parents send him a letter, they knew about the break up and it just made no sense. Flipping it over he tore open the enelope and pulled out a letter, a newspaper article, and an invitation. Unfolding the letter he read,

Dear Zachary Martin,

I'm hoping this makes it to you in time and before you find out from the media sources that are covering it. We know how you and our daughter felt about each other and thought you should know what has happened to her. We regret too inform you of this matter terribly, but Maya has passed away. We have enclosed an article from our local news paper that will tell you what happened as well as an invitation to the funeral. We understand how hard it is, but would be honored to have you be there. You may bring your family with if you need to for support.

Sincerely,

Mr. and Mrs. Bennett

Halfway through the letter he had started to cry. Looking at the newspaper article he read through it three times before it all hit him like a ton bricks and he collapsed on the floor sobbing, letter still clutched in his left hand. It had seemed like hours to him before he heard the door open and close and then heard his brother ask him what was wrong. He looked up at his identical twin and then handed Cody the letter, article, and invitation. It took all of two minutes for Cody to read the letter and article. Zack watched from his spot on the floor as his brother read and saw Cody's start to brim with tears as well. He also watched as Cody walked over to the kitchen table, sat down, pulled out his cell phone, dialed a number, and waited for someone to pick up on the other end.

"Yes is this the Bennett family?" Cady asked when someone had answered, "this Cody Martin Zack Martin's brother." while waiting for his brother to speak into the phone again, Zack drug himself up off the floor and over to the couch where he sat down. Cody looked over at him and mouthed a question, Are we going? To which Zack nodded.

"Yes we'll be there." Cody said into mic on the phone, "Good day to you too, Mrs Bennett and we're sorry for your loss." and with that Cody closed his phone ending the call.

"Are you okay, Zack?" was the next thing out of his brothers mouth.

"What do think, Cody? How would you feel if that letter had been from Bailey's family telling you she was the one that had died?" Zack yelled, standing up.

"I would have been devastated." Cody answered in little more then a whisper just audible enough so Zack would hear him.

"Exactly!" Zack hollered as he turned around and made a beeline for his and Cody's room slamming the door behind him. Cody heard the distinct sound of the lock on their door and Zack's quiet sobbing from inside the bedroom.

End Flashback

Zack had apologized later that night to Cody for his outburst and his brother had forgiven him for it. A week later they had attended Maya's funeral which had been a closed casket ceremony cause her body had been horribly mangled from the plane crash. Her parents had asked him to say a few words about her from his point of view which he had reluctantly agreed too, as well as had asked him to be a Paul Bearer which he had also agreed to. He remembered the smell of the freshly turned earth as him and the other Paul Bearers had placed the casket on the lowering mechanism. He also remembered every detail of the service and had constantly thought over it upon their return from the funeral to Boston.

That was when he had closed himself off from everyone and everything. Putting himself in the routine of waking up, going about his day barely talking to anyone, doing only what he was required of him, and then going to bad and crying himself to sleep every night.

His family had started to worry about him to the point Cody had finally contacted Woody and Marcus to try and help pull him out of the funk. Which they kind of did, Marcus, after the failure of his Broadway Comedy had started street racing and introduced Zack and Cody to the Street Racing Underground. Zack had delved head first into it rising up in notoriety to the point where he was the one everyone who raced wanted to beat. And they tried, boy did they try, they never got anywhere though no matter how hard they tried. Mainly due to the fact that he had the financial backing of one London Tipton to make sure his car stayed in tip top winning shape. That alone still threw Zack for a whirl, remembering how greedy the airhead heiress used to be. Come to find out though, she had actually done it to try to get closer to Cody.

On their return to Boston from the S.S. Tipton she had supplied both twins with two cars a piece as an apology for her summer wardrobe having crushed the 68' Camaro their father had given them. Zack had taken one of the cars and decked it out completely for racing when he had started, that one being the 2000 Ford Mustang which he had used in his race earlier. The other usually just sat on the top level of the Tipton's parking garage so as not to draw attention to itself considering that anywhere else it might be parked it would stick out like a sore thumb. He had driven it on a few occasions, one of them having been Maya's funeral. Which looking back on it now he kind of regretted doing. Not a lot of people would normally drive a Lamborghini to a funeral, let alone two considering Cody had driven his as well. But the Bennett's had overlooked the two ostentatious cars and had welcomed them with open arms, even with solemnity that was going on that day.

It finally got the best of him and Zack sat up in bed, looking at the clock he saw it was just after three am. He grabbed his jeans and shirt from earlier and re-dressed himself. Quietly opening the door and tiptoeing over to the table, so as not to wake his mother who was sound asleep on the pullout couch, brown hair splayed over her face, he jotted a quick note down on a piece of paper. Grabbing his sneakers he left the suite and quietly closed the door behind him. Knowing exactly what would take his mind of the bad memories he didn't want to face he headed for the elevator.

Once inside it, he jabbed the lobby button with his index finger and waited for the doors to close. As the elevator descended he checked his pocket to make sure he had his pass card to the top floor of the parking. Everyone who had a car parked up there had one as that was the top security car storage and London had been very adamant about him and Cody keeping their exotic cars up there. He had the card in hand as the elevator came to stop and he exited toward the tunnel which led to the garage.

"Heading out again, Zack." Asked a voice with a heavy accent from the front desk.

"Yeah," Zack turned around to regard the man with dark hair and eyes standing behind the desk,"I'll be back a little later, Esteban." and with that he turned on his heel and continued on his course.

Cody lay awake next to London who was breathing softly beside him having fallen asleep soon after they had finished, thinking over the events of the day. He laughed quietly to himself as he recalled his brothers smartassed remark to his opponent about the scratch on his car. He also felt a sense of pride knowing Zack was one of, if not the best street racer in Boston. He threw the covers off, exposing himself to the chilly night air filtering in through the open window and got out of the bed when he heard the unmistakeable sound of a Lamborghini engine firing up. Sliding his boxers back on so as not to get to cold he walked over to the window and looked out. Sure enough Zack's Lamborghini was backing out of it's space on the top level of the garage.

"Cody...where did you go?" asked the groggy voice of London.

"Over here by the window." he answered, turning around to look at the beautiful woman he had been laying beside just moments ago. His eyes traveled up and down her body, from the top of her head full of long dark brown hair, to her beautiful chocolate eyes which he could easily loose himself in, to those fully kissable lips, down further to her chest, and the rest of her which was covered down to right below her knees.

How did I get so damn lucky? He thought to himself looking at her, even with her disheveled appearance she still turns me on. A shiver ran down his spine as she laid there staring at him from the bed.

"Come back to bed, baby." London said propping her self up on her elbow, the silk sheet involuntarily sliding off her chest as she did this.

"Give me a few minutes and I will." he replied, turning back toward the window in time to see Zack turn right out of the garage heading toward the speedway that was about fifteen miles from the hotel. Figured he was headed that way. He must be thinking about it again, with that thought he walked back over to the bed and laid back down beside London.

"Um...Problem." London stated with a pout on her face.

"Sorry," Cody said with a small grin as reached under the covers and removed his boxers again. Having momentarily forgotten that London preferred to have nothing in between their two bodies, "Better?" he asked as he dropped the offending piece of clothing back on the floor.

"Much." the heiress replied, giving him a quick peck on the lips before laying her head back down on the pillows and snuggling her body as close to his as she could.

"I love you, London." Cody whispered, as he planted a soft kiss on the top of her head.

"And I love you, Cody." she replied. The two soon drifted off to sleep but not before Cody sent up a quick prayer for Zack to hopefully soon get over the heartache he had dealing with since they found out about Maya.

Maddie had only been partially asleep when she had heard someone's footsteps in the hall outside her suite. She had gotten up and went out to the main door of the suite and cracked it open just in time to see Zack turn down the hall toward the elevator and out of sight.

"I wonder where he's off to at this hour?" she said to herself.

"Probably the track." said a voice from across the hall.

Maddie looked over and saw Carey standing with her door open too, "Oh hey, Carey." Maddie smiled at the older woman who's hair was was frizzed from sleep.

"Hi, Maddie." Carey replied, "he doesn't realize I know what he does these days. I don't approve of him breaking the law but he's at least half of the Zack he was before everything happened so I don't stop either."

"What happened that was so bad?"Maddie asked.

"It's not really my place to tell you the whole story, but you do deserve to know."

"Why do you say that?"

"I overheard Zack ask Cody to give you an apology for him earlier after he gave you the cold shoulder in the lobby."

"Oh."

"Come over and explain at least some of why Zack is the way he is now." Carey said motioning with her hand for Maddie to follow her into the Martin's suite.

Grabbing her pass key off the stand by her door Maddie followed her into the suite pulling the door closed to her own on the way.

Zack drove down the familiar streets headed to the raceway that every street racer in Boston used to practice their driving. As he pulled up to the security gate he rolled down the window and waited for the guard to come up to him.

"How's it goin', Jammer?" The burly man asked as he leaned down toward Zack's window and tipped his hat to the younger man behind the wheel, "I see you drove the Lambo this, must really need to get somethin' off your mind."

"Yeah, kind of." Zack nodded.

"Alright, go on in." the guard said with all to knowing look on his face.

"Thanks, Reg I appreciate it."

"No prob, Jammer. Just be careful out there, and take this with." Reg tipped his hat again as he handed Zack a two way radio, then pressed a button on the remote mounted on his belt and the gate slid open. Backing away from the car he watched as Zack drove through the gate and onto track.

Reg walked back to the Guard boot and watched on the monitor as Zack drove up to the start and stopped just behind it, "Alright Jammer, in 3..2..1..GO!" he called into his two way. With that he saw on the monitor that Zack had floored the pedal and was picking up as he came up to the first turn. Unknown to most people Reg enjoyed watching Zack on the track. It reminded of when he used to coach his own stock car team before they moved up to the Nascar circuit and left him behind. He had given on ever coaching a decent team soon after cause no one ever drove as good as they had. At least he hadn't thought so, till he met Zack who in his opinion drove better then that whole team combined ever had. He took off his hat and ran a hand over his bald head smiling at the memory. As he watched Zack drift around another turn at take off at full throttle again he grinned as he heard the engine of the car scream down the track.

Zack heard the word go come across his two way and floored the accelerator. Taking off from the starting line like a bat out of hell he barreled through the first turn and came out flooring the pedal again. As the engine started to whine a little, he up-shifted to fourth and continued. Coming up to the next turn he down-shifted back to third, ripped the e-brake handle up, and whipped the steering wheel to the left sending the car drifting into the turn.

"A little close to the wall on that one, Jammer." Reg's voice sounded from the two way in the cup holder. Zack smiled, believe it or not he enjoyed the constructive criticism Reg gave him every time he came and ran the track. Coming out of the turn having released the e-brake he up-shifted back to fourth and grabbed the radio.

"Thanks, Reg." he said into mic, with a small grin on his face. He had successfully done what he had come here to do. Dropping the two way back into the cup he cranked the volume of his car radio up so he could hear the music and continued racing down the track. Every once in a while Reg would pop another comment across the two way radios about a correction he needed to make or just to say he did good on a corner and Zack would reply back with a thank you or an alright and continue driving. This continued until the sky started to get lighter and Zack looked down at his gas gauge and saw he had about a quarter of a tank left.

"Alright, Reg I'm comin' out." he said into mic of the walkie talkie.

"Right." Reg replied pushing the button on the remote to open the gate again.

Zack stopped the car by the booth where Reg was standing, rolling down the passenger window he tossed the second two way back to the man, who expertly caught it and set in on the counter in the booth then turned back to him.

"Good run." the older man congratulated.

"Thanks, hey I got to get home, but I'll catch you on the flip side, Reg." Zack said with a smile.

"Yep, Later." Reg smiled back and tipped his hat again as Zack pulled back out onto the road and headed to the gas station a few blocks up.

After refilling his gas tank Zack paid the cashier and headed back home to the Tipton.

"So, Maya was killed in the crash?" Maddie asked the twins' mother.

"Yeah, but I'm gonna let Zack tell you the rest of the story when he's ready too. As I said it's not my place to tell you everything, there's a part that not even Cody knows. Zack only confided it to me." Carey nodded.

"Ok, I can understand that. I can only hope he'll eventually trust me enough to confide in me too." After that statement Maddie tried to stiffle a huge yawn and failed miserably, "I think I'm gonna head to bed. Goodnight, Carey and thank you."

"Your welcome, just do me a favor?" Carey asked as Maddie stood up.

"What's up?" Maddie asked the older woman.

"Tell him soon. You might just be what he needs to be fully brought back to his old self again." Carey replied.

"I must be an open book." Maddie cringed.

"Not exactly, I'm just a mother and can tell when someone is in love with one of my boys." Carey said with smile, "who do you think told Cody he had a shot with London?"

"Oh. That does make sense." Maddie nodded and then just about busted out laughing as she was reminded of the exchange between Cody and Mr. Moseby earlier that night. Turning for the door she bade the boys' mother farewell and went back to her own suite.

"She'd be good for him." Carey said to herself as she put the two empty cups from her and Maddie in the sink and headed back to bed.

About an hour later she was halfway woken up by the sound of the door opening and Zack walking in and closing it softly.

"Goodnight, Mom." he whispered softly as he went into his and Cody's room.

"Goodnight, Son." she whispered back when she heard the door to the boys' room close.

A/N: Thanks to all those who read the first chapter of this story I appreciate it.

Countrygirl19: Thank you for the review I just about fell out of my chair laughing when I read it. I honestly didn't expect someone to comment on that part of the chapter. Thanks and I hope like this chapter if you read it.

And to everyone else, please review it gives me kind of a sense of accomplishment and tells me that you guys like and are enjoying my story. I won't hold chapters hostage until I get a specific amount of reviews. I don't find that the right to do, but I could use the reviews cause I have a bad habit of ending with a serious case of writers block when I try to write a chapter story. So I could use some encouragement to keep going.

Sincerely, Goldjackal17